Straight to the Heart
by erynion
Summary: An interrogation gone wrong brings unexpected consequences for the Five-0 crew, especially for one of its members. Set during season 2. No slash.
1. Chapter 1: Instinct

**Hey guys!****This new story comes completely unexpected. It was born while I was working for the next chapter of All for one, a story in which each chapter is a different oneshot, when I noticed it was getting too big... so I have decided to post it separately instead. As it was originally planned as a oneshot, the first part may seem rushed, but I warn you: I haven't finished it yet, so updates may be slow (or not, depending on my muse and my free time). Right now, I only have the first three chapters, so I'll post the second one when I have the fourth one finished. **

**This story is set in season 2, so Malia is still alive (although I'm not sure if she'll be making an appearance), and there's no Grover; also, Charlie has already been borned. For those of you who hate Rachel, stop reading right here, right now or you may get really angry. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Hawaii Five-0. All rights belong to their respective owners.**

* * *

CHAPTER 1: INSTINCT

The sky was grey as the two partners got out of the silver Camaro and headed to the victim's house. There was no rain, no unbearable wet weather. It was too calm, as it is always before a storm. The atmosphere felt weird, and even though Steve didn't say anything, he could feel it too. His guts were telling him to turn around and call for back up, but instead he shook his head and stood in front of the door, waiting for the widow to open it after his partner knocked and announced their presence. He was being ridiculous, he thought, he was just tired and he would stop feeling that way after sleeping for a full night with no interruptions, whenever that would be. Two minutes later, a woman in her mid-forties with messy long brown hair and big brown eyes with big purple bags under them opened the door and stared at them with a serious but sad face.

"Mrs. Graham" asked Steve. The woman nodded. "I'm Lieutenant Commander Steve McGarret, from Five-0. This is my partner, Detective Danny Williams" he said pointing at Danny with one hand.

"We're very sorry for your loss, ma'am" said his partner, all empathy and professionalism, with a serious expression, showing concern and grief. "We understand this is difficult, but we'd like to ask you some questions. It would only take some minutes, I promise"

The woman, who had said no word yet, examined carefully the two officers. She had known that would be happening some time soon since she found her husband's cold corpse in the basement, but it didn't mean it was going to be easier. She could fear tears forming in her eyes again as she let the men in. She followed them silently after closing the door. She nervously glanced around the house before focusing on her guests.

"Please, take a seat. Would you like some drink?"

"No, thank you, ma'am, we're fine" answered Steve politely, while he and Danny obeyed her and took a seat on the couch.

He noticed the woman's shaking hands and how she was trying to hide it by putting them inside the pockets of her trousers and smiled at her sympathetically. He glanced at Danny; when he saw his partner almost-imperceptible nod, he knew he had noticed it too. The woman took a seat on the arm chair in front of them; she looked as if she was going to start crying any minute. He cleared his throat, but before he could say anything, his partner had taken the initiative.

"Mrs. Graham, we're sorry for what happened to your husband. But this is very important to find out who was behind his murder"

"I understand. Please, call me Astrid" she said while she took a tissue out of one of her pockets and cleaned the tears of her eyes and face.

"Alright, Astrid. Please, tell us how you found Barney"

During the next ten minutes, the woman explained everything he remembered to the blonde Detective and his partner. She answered question after question, and she felt so mentally exhausted she was glad they were finally over. Reliving everything again made her impossible to hide the pain, but she could at least explain everything she could to the two men so they could get out of her house sooner; the sooner the better.

She was leading the two men towards the door when one of them, the tall one, stopped, turned back and looked at her with a bit of embarrassment.

"Is something wrong, Commander?" She asked, unconsciously biting her lip.

"I... uh..." Steve looked at Danny, who was looking at him with a confused face and an arched brow, before looking at Astrid again. "May I use your bathroom, please?"

Danny rolled his eyes and sighed but thankfully remained silent, staying next to the door. Astrid nodded and raised his arm to point with one of them to somewhere in the corridor.

"Third door to the right"

Steve nodded thankfully and hurried to the bathroom; he shouldn't have drunk so much coffee, but that night he had slept no more than four hours and he needed to be awake to focus all his senses on the case. The relief he felt once he arrived to the bathroom on time could not be expressed with words, and he relaxed and closed his eyes when he felt the coffee getting out of his bladder.

* * *

Danny could have said so many things to Steve that he decided not to say anything, at least while they were in front of the victim's wife, or she could wonder what kind of men were carrying out the investigation. She was so quiet that she would probably complain to HPD or whoever instead of them, and the whole task force would be questioned because the urinary problems of a certain Neanderthal. So instead, he decided to keep his mood at bay and leave the ranting for later when they were inside the car he owned but his partner never let him drive.

He noticed the woman was in front of him, looking nervously from the window, to the door to him. Maybe she was waiting for someone? It was not uncommon to have the whole neighborhood offering their condolences after such a tragic loss, especially if the victim and the family were dear to the community. But what intrigued him the most was the fact that the woman looked nervous, and had been biting her lips almost since they began the questioning. He didn't talk to Steve about that, not in front of her, but he knew he had also seen it. Astrid Graham was hiding something.

"Are you okay, Astrid?"

"Of course not, Detective. And please, call me Astrid"

"Yeah, of course, Astrid. Sorry, that was inappropriate"

"No problem" she said without even looking at him. Instead, she was looking worryingly through the window and at the clock that was hanging on the wall. "I think you should go"

Danny raised his eyebrow and looked through the window too, trying to find whatever the woman was so nervously looking for, but he only saw one orange SUV that hadn't been there before. The woman cupped his face with his hands and turned to look at Danny.

"Please, Detective, tell your partner to hurry up and go"

The woman looked horrified but Danny was only seeing a young adult of about seventeen years old getting out of the car. Still, the woman looked horrified. He tried to get nearer the window, but he only caught a glimpse of the boy before the woman closed the curtains. Enough was enough. The woman had looked nervous from the beginning, but he got even more nervous when he saw that boy getting near them and the house.

Danny's instincts were telling him that they had already found out what the woman had been hiding the whole time. With one hand, he told the woman to stay behind him while, with the other, he had already grabbed his gun and was pointing with it at the door.

* * *

Jason Graham was in a particularly good mood. He had felt that way since he had gotten up that morning, and he had felt even better when he had time to put some order in the basement before going to work. When his shift at a local children store ended, he got inside his car and startled whistling a silly song he couldn't completely remember instead of turning on the radio. Despite his particular appreciation for music that apparently almost nobody shared, he tolerated the commercial rubbish that was heard nowadays... But the advertisements were too much. They drove him crazy. And, in days like that, when he felt the happiest man on earth, it was the last thing he needed.

However, he stopped whistling when he saw the silver car outside his house. He had had all day to assimilate he would have to tolerate the presence of some visitors; he had had that in mind as he saw the light fading in Barney's eyes. But that silver car looked like no one he was familiar with, the only one being his Uncle Ted's old van. Whose was it?

His smile had faded by the time he had gotten out of his car. He noticed the curtains, that weren't closed a minute ago, and he furrowed his brows. His mom was definitely not alone. However, he knew he had to do as if it was just another day. So he forced himself to put a neutral face while he took his keys and opened the door. Or so he tried. When he saw his mother behind the man with the gun pointed at him, her guilty face being protected by the other man's calmed determination, he grunted furiously.

"You couldn't keep your mouth shut, could you?" He said to her angrily. His day had started as a good one, but he was slowly starting to loose his temper.

"Calm down, Jason. Put your hands where I can see them" replied Danny with a warning.

"Jason, honey, I'm so sorry, I'm..." She whispered, with tears in her eyes.

"The hell you are!" Jason screamed, shaking violently. "So that's it, huh? You're turning your back on your only son" It was unbelievable. It felt as a dream, as a crazy stupid dream. He laughed hysterically while his hand disappeared on his back. Before he could grab his gun, the blonde man made him jump when he shoot to the floor, next to his foot. "What the fuck, man?!"

"I won't fail next time"

The three people in the room remained where they were without moving a single muscle, waiting for the perfect opportunity for the next move. Danny's would come if Jason raised his hands so he could cuff him and take him to the car and from there to the palace before handing him to HPD. Jason was waiting for a distraction, one that his mother could give him but didn't seem able to because she was too busy crying and feeling miserable, that could help him to get outside the house, to his car and from there to where he wanted to go.

"What the hell is going on here?" Steve had just got out of the bathroom and arrived to the living-room to see his partner pointing his gun to a young boy, whereas Mrs. Graham seem only capable of crying more than before. "Danny?" He demanded his partner, getting closer to him

"Ah, Steven, I'm so glad you could finally join us!" Grunted his partner. "Look what you've gotten us into!" He joked, turning his eyes one second from Jason to roll them. If his partner would have spent more time inside that bathroom, he would be worried. One thing was sure: Super-Seal must have a super bladder!

But one second was all it took. When Danny looked at Jason again, the boy was pointing a gun at him.

"Thanks for coming"

The moment Danny, Steve or Astrid wanted to react, it was a moment too late. Danny heard a woman screaming behind him and his partner saying his name at the same time a loud bang sent him backwards and he felt himself falling to the floor.

* * *

Surprise was a mild word to express what Steve felt when he got out of the bathroom and saw his partner, with a crying Mrs. Graham behind him watching the scene with horrified eyes, pointing his gun at a young boy, presumably the Grahams' son given the physical similarities.

"What the hell is going on here?" He understood nothing. According to Astrid, his son, Jason, had always been a good boy. But he knew his partner would never point a gun at someone who was good. He got close to him. "Danny?"

"Ah, Steven, I'm so glad you could finally join us! Look what you've gotten us into!"

He sighed and shook his head. Why did Danny always think unexpected things like those were his fault? Sure, he could have had Danny's back if he had gone to the bathroom before leaving the palace, but he didn't have to at that time. Or he could have also drunk less coffee, but Steve minus coffee equal zombie. Coffee was the only thing keeping him from falling asleep while being still on his feet, so he wasn't going to apologize for that, not even to his grumpy partner.

But he didn't have time to answer. As soon as he focused his attention on what was going on in the room, he saw Jason with his hands on a gun pointed at Danny, who looked as surprised as him. By the time he grabbed his, it was too late.

"DANNY!" he screamed when he saw his friend, who had been standing right next to him until that moment, falling awkwardly to the floor after Jason pulled the trigger.

That was the moment when Steve should have told Jason to drop the weapon and interlock his fingers while he let Danny cuff him. However, this time was different. This time, Danny had been shot before being able to cuff their killer, and his shirt, previously white, was getting redder and redder. This time, Steve didn't hesitate. He pointed his gun at him and pulled the trigger before the young man could react.

When Jason fell backwards with his eyes closed, his mother fell on her knees letting out a heart-rending scream.

"JASON!" she crawled towards him at gently took his body between her arms, kissing his friend sweetly while she saw, with tears in her eyes, the blood coming out from his son's neck. "You killed him! My sweet boy, my loving baby! You killed him"

He didn't even bother to tell her he was only unconscious, he had just knocked him out. When he looked at Danny, he knew Jason's shot had done more harm than his. He got on his knees, closer to his partner, his gun already holstered. A single gunshot wound on his chest, filling everything with blood, was the responsible for draining the color of his partner's face and making his pulse erratic. And yet Danny's strong nature hadn't allowed him to loose consciousness just yet.

Steve put his hands on Danny's chest quickly to prevent more blood from getting out, but it wasn't a magical remedy; although at a slower pace, Steve's hands were soon full of red.

"Hey buddy" he smiled at Danny when he noticed his partner's eyes on him. "Relax. Everything is gonna be okay"

"You... You're such a... terrible liar, S-Steven" his laugh turned into a painful cough that stained his lips with red.

Steve took one hand from Danny's wound and slipped it inside his pocket to reach for his phone. He didn't care if his clothes got red too. Danny would die if he didn't make that call.

"C'mon, Danny, don't talk. Save your breath. C'mon, Danny. Stay with me"

He tried not to think he could die too even if he did it while he pressed the keys, but his heart fell to the ground when he saw his eyelids closing.

"This is McGarrett. My partner has been shot on the chest. I need an ambulance on 66 Kauhale Street, as fast as you can. "

He would have called Chin and Kono, but he discarded that option when he noticed Danny's too pale face, his lips turning blue. He dropped his phone and pressed his two hands hard on Danny's chest, who didn't even react that time.

"C'mon, D, don't do this to me. Help is on its way. Stay with me, Danny."

He forced himself to keep it together and stay focused on slowing down the rapid flow of Danny's blood, but he couldn't completely make it. In his head, Danny's last words before being shot were echoing too loudly. 'Look what you've gotten us into!'

Danny had been right. He always told him he was a trouble magnet, as if he had some sort of super power that allowed danger to follow and find him. But that danger had not found him, but his partner. He remembered the uneasiness he had felt in his guts when they were getting out of the car and nearing the house, how he had ignored it because he had thought it felt that way because he was just tired.

Unconsciously, he moved one of his hands from Danny's wound and placed it on his neck to check his pulse. It was there, but it was so weak he didn't feel anything at first.

"C'mon, Danny! Keep breathing. I'm right here. Stay with me, buddy"

He felt something warm and wet on his cheeks, and he forced himself to regain the composure. Crying meant weakness, and Danny didn't need that right now. He ignored the woman, who hadn't moved and was still sobbing with his son between her arms, and concentrated on placing both hands on Danny's chest. The bleeding was going to stop, but he felt the stream going slower when he blocked the hole of the wound. Or maybe it was because his partner had already lost too much blood...

Crying meant weakness, but he would have cried when he heard the sirens of the ambulance getting louder with each passing minute. He heard the movement outside and smiled to an unconscious Danny.

"I told you, Danny, help has come. Just keep breathing, buddy"

He was happy help has finally arrived, that someone could help Danny much better than him. However, voices in his head kept telling him that it was his fault that Danny had been shot. Astrid's mumbling whispers didn't help either.

"My boy, my sweet baby boy... He should have listened, I warned him! But they never listen..."


	2. Chapter 2: Ohana

**Hey guys! ****Happy Five-0 Friday!** **As promised, here is chapter 2. I'll update the third one when I finish writing chapter 5, so be patient. This story is going to be longer than expected, but I hope you'll stick with me until the end. ****As for this chapter (though you can apply it to the previous one and the future ones), I have zero knowledge on police or medical procedure, but fortunately this is fiction so the rules can be bent a little. Also, that being said, fear not: this is NOT a death-fic.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Hawaii Five-0. All rights belong to their respective owners**

* * *

CHAPTER 2: OHANA

The paramedics got to the direction as fast as they could and stormed into the house with serious faces. They had been explained that, apart from what he had told them on the phone, according to the trembling and the nervousness of the Commander's voice the situation didn't look good and the sooner they got there the better they could know what they were dealing with. A team of four paramedics headed inside, and didn't have to wait long to find out what had happened.

Near the door, there were a woman and a younger boy, probably her son. She was holding him clumsily, her eyes red and swollen, whereas the boy looked as if he was just peacefully asleep if they ignored the bleeding wound of his neck. On the floor, near the couch and the coffee table, there were two men, one pressing his hands on the other, who looked as pale as a statue and his lips had a dangerous shade of blue mixed with some red.

One paramedic got on his knees next to the boy. Despite being a new addition to the team, the paramedic knew what he was doing and was really trusted in his team despite his lack of experience. He demanded the woman to back off to have space to work, but although the woman complied, she stayed near his son. The paramedic examined the wound on his neck and cleaned it before putting some bandages. He knew it was a minor wound, and once the blood was controlled, there was nothing he could do to help him except taking him to the hospital to make sure the boy had a normal recovery. The paramedic turned his head to look at his other three partners, hovering around the other man on the floor. According to his partners' expressions, it was bad.

* * *

"I told you, Danny, help has come. Just keep breathing, buddy"

Steve didn't know if Danny could hear him, he just hoped the paramedics wouldn't be taking that long to get inside the house and help his partner. The ambulance hadn't parked so far from the house, according to the noises he'd heard. Why would they take so long?

The door opened at that moment, a team of four paramedics getting inside the house and looking around before taking action. Steve knew what they were doing, he had done it too while he was in the NAVY and he even did it now that he was with Five-0. First you look around and examine your surroundings, and then you organize your team to attend all the situations at once. One sub-team, the more experienced, deals with the worst situation.

That was what they had done that morning. Before leaving the palace, he had ordered Chin to talk to Duke to see if HPD had found something new about the crime, whereas he had told Kono to go see Charlie to see if the lab had found something after examining the evidences. Meanwhile, Danny and him would interrogate the widow to get as much details as possible; he always counted on Danny for that kind of things because he always showed a great sense of empathy with the families of the victims and they were always more prone to tell new details to someone like him.

So, when Steve saw three paramedics getting around his partner without saying a word to him, he knew it was bad. Still, he didn't want to get his hands off his partner. That was the only way he could be of help, and he needed to do something. If he wasn't active, he had more time to think, and if he had more time to think, he had more time to blame himself and feel guilty. And that would be completely useless at that moment, as useless as letting himself fall to the floor to curl up and cry.

"Please, sir, we need place to work"

Steve backed off and let the three paramedics kneel next to Danny. He didn't understood what they were saying in their medical jargon, but he decided not to interrupt. They were doing for Danny more than he could have done. So he got up and got near the other paramedic, still working on Jason Graham, while he ignored the woman angry look directed at him.

"How is he?" He asked with a flat tone. He could have killed him, maybe he should have, but he hadn't done it because that would have been too easy. Jason needed to respond for his actions, which, with the added charge for attempted murder of a police officer (because it would be an attempt; Danny was strong and was going to survive that, he was completely sure about that), didn't look good for him.

"The bullet barely grazed his neck. I've stopped the bleeding as best as I could, but he needs to be taken to the hospital to have some stitches and take some antibiotics to prevent the infection"

"He didn't kill my son?" Asked Mrs. Graham confused, looking at both the paramedic and Steve. "Jason is alive?"

The paramedic exchanged a look with McGarrett, who nodded and remained silent to allow the paramedic to work.

"No, ma'am, your son is pretty much alive. Neck's wounds look worse than they really are" he gave a sympathetic smile to the now smiling woman.

"But still, your son would respond for his actions" interrupted Steve. He couldn't stand it, it was intolerable that his partner was a few feet from him fighting for his life and the woman could even smile because his monster of a son was going to be perfectly okay. "I'll make sure of that, I promise"

"I tried to warn him, both of you, but you never listen." She repeated with no smile on her face, her lips trembling and her eyes wet and full of guilt. "People never listen"

"That is what happened to your husband too, right? He didn't listen" he grunted.

He turned on his back before he could see the woman's face. Now he understood everything. Why the woman had been all the time looking through the window and at the clock during the interrogation, why she had looked so nervous. They had thought it was because of the shock and the emotional trauma, but she had been counting the time remaining for her son, the murderer, to arrive home.

He should have seen this coming. It was his fault.

He looked around one more time, but there was nothing he could do. If he got nearer Jason, he would have to resist the urge to punch him in the face. If he got near his mother, he would have to resist the urge to grab her from her arms and shake her to get some sense into her thick skull. If he got near the paramedic working on Jason, who now was talking on the phone to call for another ambulance, he wouldn't finish that call; but he also knew he couldn't blame someone who was just doing his job. And he couldn't get nearer Danny because the paramedics were working on him beyond exhaustion, trying to get him stabilized, and getting anywhere near them would compromise their job and Danny's survival chances.

He noticed one of the three paramedics working on his partner getting up and heading towards the door hurriedly, and Steve grabbed his arm not too gently before he could leave the house.

"How is he?" He asked, his voice full of concern.

"It's not good. The bullet hit his lung and caused a pneumothorax." Steve didn't realize he was still grabbing the paramedic from his arm until he took his hand with his other one. "Please, Commander. We're doing our best, but we need to get him to a hospital"

Steve released his hold and opened the door to the paramedic. He stood next to the door, watching the paramedic getting a gurney and some bags out of the ambulance, and after taking one last glance at his fallen friend, he took his phone to give the news to their team.

* * *

Chin was on his way out of Duke's office with no sign of his usual smile on his face. He was upset they hadn't found anything new on the death of Barney Graham. It was obvious he had been murdered, but some things didn't fit. Like, for example, why his wife didn't hear anything strange and didn't miss her husband in the house until she went down to the basement to grab some old boxes they had there. But that had been Steve's and Danny's job, while his had been getting up-to-date with Duke about other details of the case. Two hours later, he still had nothing new and he felt more frustrated than ever.

Before he could make it out of the building, he felt his phone buzzing on his pocket and when he took it, he was surprised to see the name of his boss on the screen. That was completely unexpected, he was the one supposed to call Steve after seeing Duke, but maybe Danny and him had found some new clues that could be crucial for the investigation.

"Steve! I'm on my way out of HPD, but we have no new lead on..."

"Chin" Steve interrupted his friend. He didn't much time; the paramedics were finishing stabilizing Danny to get him on the gurney. "Stop looking and search for Duke, now. We have our guy, it's Jason Graham"

"What?" Chin asked confused. "Jason Graham? The son?" He repeated while he turned on his heels and returned to Duke's office. "What happened? Is Danny with you?"

"Chin... uh... Danny had been shot"

"What?!" The Lieutenant felt the blood draining of his face. He stopped where he was and he thought he may have talked too loud when he saw some curious faces looking at him with confusion, but he didn't care. "How bad is it?"

"It's... It's not good " he glanced at his partner, who was still on the floor and was being put an oxygen mask on his mouth. "He was shot in the chest before I could knock Jason out"

"Where are you?"

"At the Grahams' house. Tell HPD to hurry, I'm going with Danny on the ambulance and I don't want to leave Jason unattended before the other one comes"

"He's not unattended! I'm with him, I'm his mother!" Astrid shouted hysterically when she heard Steve, who decided it was best not to reply.

"It's not far from here, we'll be there in five" he said almost out of breath while he ran against the clock to reach Duke's office. He ran faster when he saw his door at the end of the corridor.

"Please, hurry"

Steve ended the call by the time he was standing in front of Duke's door. The older man opened it a second later, alarmed by the noise he had heard outside.

"Chin, what's going on? I thought you were leaving"

"Listen Duke, Steve just called. Danny had been shot badly and they're taking him to the hospital"

"Where are they?" Duke's face changed from confusion to concern.

"66 Kauhale Street"

"The Grahams' house?" He asked with confusion. Chin nodded. "Okay, you go first, we'll meet you there"

"Thanks Duke"

He ran and ran through the corridors, with his phone still on his hand, fearing for his friend and partner while he heard Duke behind him contacting all the available units. He ran faster when he saw his car outside, and he decided to call Kono on the way there not to loose more time.

* * *

When Chin arrived, he saw two paramedics carrying a gurney out of the house and getting inside the ambulance that was in front of him. He couldn't really see Danny from his position, but he only had to see everyone's faces to know it didn't look good. He got out of his car and headed to the house to meet Steve, but they met on the door when he was leaving with the third paramedic.

"Commander, we can't wait any more. Your partner needs..."

"Chin!" Steve interrupted when he saw his friend. He felt so relieved he could have even cried.

"Steve! How's Danny?"

"He's bad. The bullet is lodged in his lung and he's lost a lot of blood"

"Commander!" Chin and Steve looked at the paramedic, who was already on the ambulance and waiting for the former Seal. "We have to go"

"Go" said Chin. "I'll stay with Jason until Duke arrives"

Steve patted Chin's shoulder and ran to the ambulance, closing the doors behind him. As soon as the ambulance carrying his two friends disappeared, Chin saw the other one arriving. When it stopped, he led the two paramedics inside to take care of Jason.

* * *

When Kono arrived at the scene, she was scared when she saw the ambulance and four HPD cars plus Chin's and Danny's car and an unknown orange SUV that she supposed must belong to the family. So much activity around one single house was not good, and Chin had already told her Danny had been shot. He hadn't given her too many details, but she could tell it was worse than she first imagined. She gulped before getting out of the car in an attempt to get rid of the fist oppressing her throat.

As she got outside then car and neared the ambulance, she took a look inside to check if Danny and Steve were inside, but her eyes met Mrs. Graham's instead. Kono saw Jason on the gurney, looking apparently fine except for a patch on the side of his neck. He furrowed her brow and got inside the house to see Chin and an HPD officer talking to one paramedic. She waited for her cousin and decided to take that time to examine their new crime scene.

There was blood on the floor, but the real pool was next to the couch and the coffee table. She felt almost nauseous at the sight, and she didn't feel better knowing that all that blood would probably belong to Danny since she hadn't seen him or Steve. She also noticed two guns next to the blood, and she recognized one as Danny's weapon. The other, she guessed, must have belonged to Jason.

"Kono" she gave a startle when she heard her cousin calling her name so close to her, and she turned to meet her cousin's concerned eyes.

"How's Danny?" She asked him directly, no previous greeting as they usually did. She felt her heart dropped to the ground when she saw Chin's face. "That bad?" She almost couldn't find any words.

"Worse. The bullet hit his lung and he's lost a lot of blood"

The two cousins remained silent while looking Danny's blood on the ground. Who knew a human body could bleed so much?

"What about Graham?" She asked, just when the last paramedic was leaving the house and getting into the ambulance.

"They're getting him to Queens too but HPD will take care of him after that"

"Good" she sighed and rubbed his face with her hands.

She turned his back when she noticed a strong but gentle trip on her shoulder. Her eyes met Duke's concerned ones.

"I've already told your cousin but he didn't want to go anywhere until you arrived. Go to Queens and stay with Steve. There's no reason for you to be here anyway"

"We can process the scene" she said stubbornly.

"My boys can do that too" replied Duke with a sympathetic smile. "You need to stay focused, and we both know you cannot" he patted her shoulder. "C'mon, go"

Kono looked doubtfully to Chin and Duke, and when her cousin shrugged his shoulders, she sighed and nodded.

"Okay, Duke. Thanks"

"Call me if there is any news"

"Likewise"

Chin and Kono headed to Chin's car and didn't talk for the whole ride, too busy handling all kind of not-so-positive thoughts with a rollercoaster of emotions and the concern for their friend's well-being.

* * *

Since the ambulance had arrived to the hospital and Danny was wheeled to the O.R, Steve had been force to be in the waiting room. He could do nothing but wait, walking across the room as nervous as a hungry lion inside a cage with no food. Fortunately, he didn't have to wait too long to be joined by the rest of the Five-0 team. Kono hugged him as if he was her own brother, whereas Chin placed a supportive hand on his shoulder and offered the comfort of his company.

Hours passed, and despite his friends' efforts to calm him down, he was all but calmed. Not too far from where they were, his partner, his friend, was fighting death will all his remaining strength, and Steve didn't know if that would be enough. Danny had come to Hawaii to be closer to his daughter, but he hadn't expected to get closer to his ex too; for some weeks, he had feared his partner would go back to Jersey with his family and leave them all behind. But Rachel had come back to Stan and had delivered his son (though with Danny's help, not Stan's), and so they had remained just friends. Steve knew he would have to call Rachel, who was in the mainland with Grace and Stan presenting baby Charlie to Stan's family, but he was waiting for when the surgeon would tell them something to know what to say to her.

A nurse met them every two hours or so to update them on Danny's condition, but there had been no change. They had controlled the hemorrhage before taking the bullet out of the lung, then they had had to deal with more hemorrhage and with the injured lung, and they had been assessing his present condition. By nineteen hours, Steve felt he was going to explode, and neither Chin nor Kono thought it was the best idea to try to calm him down with words despite the fact that every other person in the room was looking at him. It hurt them to see him like that, but they knew everything they say would only make everything worse. However, they didn't have to wait too long; one of the surgeons, still with the cap and the gown on, arrived at the waiting room and stood on the door.

"Daniel Williams?"

"Yes" said Steve anxiously, staying in front of the door and soon with Chin and Kono on each side. "How's he, doc?"

Steve had known something was wrong from the moment he saw the surgeon's eyes, and his instinct didn't fail. As soon as the doctor left, Steve met the wet eyes of his two friends but he had to take his eyes of them when Kono started crying, or he would start crying too.

"I have to call Rachel. Danny was supposed to call Grace in the morning"

He got to the corridor, leaving Chin hugging a crying Kono in the waiting room with a sad expression on his face, and took his phone out of his pocket. He had been fearing that moment the whole day, the moment when he had to call Danny's daughter and tell her why her dad wasn't going to call her the next day as he had been doing every day since Rachel and Grace left for the mainland. Before he could press the last key, he felt tears coming out of his eyes too. He had to resist the urge to slam the phone on the wall, the floor or both and he forced himself to talk to Danny's ex-wife instead and face the nightmare that had become reality.

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**Thanks for reading and a especially big mahalo to everyone who followed, favorited or reviewed. Reviews are ****always**** welcome unless they are disrespectful towards the story and/or the author. **


	3. Chapter 3: Too Many Questions

**Hi! I wasn't expecting to be posting this so soon but the muses were compliant and helped me finish chapter 5 sooner. However, I haven't even started with chapter 6 yet, so you may have to wait longer for the fourth chapter. I hope it's worth the wait. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Hawaii Five-0. All rights belong to their respective owners.**

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CHAPTER 3: TOO MANY QUESTIONS

He came to his senses slowly; his body felt heavy and warm, and he was too comfortable to completely wake up just yet. With he eyes still closed, he realized he was lying on something soft, like a particularly comfortable sofa or a bed, with his head slightly elevated, maybe the arm of said sofa or a pillow. He moved a little and shifted his position, but he winced and grunted when he felt pain exploding on his chest, the kind you feel when someone kicks you hard. Had someone kicked him hard? He didn't remember.

He noticed someone hovering near him, and then he felt his hand being taken by a soft and warm one. Using his nose, he could smell of jasmine and lilacs and he took a deep breath to let the delicious smell get into his brain, but he stopped when his deep breath made his chest hurt. Now he was starting to get worried. What had happened to him that he couldn't even breathe normally?

Something started beeping around him, and he felt the hand that had taken his starting to rub his skin in an attempt to calm him down. He couldn't explain why, but it worked. The beeps around him slowed their annoying and monotonous melody and he felt he could breathe better when he was less agitated. Now he felt curious. He felt like a baby who can only be calmed down by his mother. But he was too old to be a baby, or so he thought, so that hand that had taken his was not definitely his mother. But whose?

He decided it was time he said hello to the world. Or, at least, to the person next to him. Slowly, with lots of efforts (he didn't remember opening his eyes was so hard), he managed to open them in time to see a beautiful woman with long wavy hair looking at him with her lovely big brown eyes before the bright light of the sun made him close them again.

"Grace?" he croaked, or at least tried. His voice didn't sound like his voice anymore.

He felt his hand being left alone again and heard the noise of the shutters and then the curtains being closed before he felt her soft hand taking his again. This time, he was waiting for her, and he used all his strength to keep the other hand with his, seeking the comfort the contact had given him the first time. Although he hadn't tried to open his eyes again, he could feel the woman was smiling at him.

"No, Daniel, I'm not Grace"

She said that with a soft and gentle tone while she caressed his arm with her free hand. But that left Danny more confused. That woman had long brown hair, like Grace, and even though his daughter's was straight, she liked to curl it sometimes. That woman had also Grace's big brown eyes, full of light and life, and she also had her soft skin. Besides, his daughter never called him with his full name; she preferred to call him Danno or Daddy instead.

Out of curiosity, he tried to open his eyes once again. It took him more effort than the first time, but the absence of light helped him to complete his task. And, when he did it, he was rewarded with his ex-wife's smiling face.

"Rachel?" he didn't understand anything. He looked around at what seemed to be a hospital room, but he didn't remember being taken to one in the first place, although that explained a bit the pain on his chest. Still, he felt confused, and it annoyed him that his mind didn't seem compliant to help him. "What are you…? Why am I on…?"

"Sshhh" she hushed him, gently stroking his hair with her free hand. He felt so tired that the single gesture made him relax on the mattress and close his eyes, falling back into unconsciousness before he could even get some answers. "Welcome back, Daniel"

Danny heard his ex-wife before falling completely asleep, with his hand still intertwined with Rachel's. Despite the drugs, despite the pain, despite the tiredness, despite everything, her presence still made him feel home.

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The next time he regained consciousness, he didn't take so much time to open his eyes. He was feeling more rested, and although he felt still weak and the pain on his chest had slightly increased, he felt he could open them with no delay as people normally did. He felt as confused as the first time when he saw he was in the same exact hospital room, the only difference being it was darker, with no light coming from the other side of the window (despite the closed curtains, Danny's brain was awake enough to know that was because night has fallen).

He looked around the room, much more aware of his surroundings than before, and noticed the presence of Rachel, completely asleep on the couch. If he would have been strong enough, he would have gotten up from that bed and tenderly covered her body with a blanket; however, although he felt better than the first time, he knew he wasn't going to be able to even raise his upper body to stay in a sitting position. So instead he sighed frustratingly and shifted on the bed until he stopped when he a sudden pain made him wince.

He rubbed his chest with one hand (or tried to, as the moment his hand touched the area the tender skin protested), and that was the first time he noticed he had no shirt, no nothing; he was just lying on the bed with the sheets covering his lower body and showing the upper one to each one of his visitors. Who, up until that moment, included an ex-wife. Why was life so complicated? At least, now he knew the kick to his chest had been properly treated, as almost all of its surface was bandaged.

He raised one of his arms to reach his bedside table for a glass of water, but when he saw all the cables attached to it, he felt almost sick and he dropped it unwillingly. The noise the glass made when it made contact with the floor and broke into lots of little pieces startled Rachel, who looked sleepy and confused around the room until she saw her ex-husband looking at her guiltily with one arm still in the air.

"Danny!" When he heard her reprimanding him, he felt as if he were just their daughter.

"Sorry, Rach" he whispered weakly, placing his arm back on the soft sheets. It had been just a few seconds, but in the end he had felt his muscles trembling because of the effort. "I was just trying to reach the water but I dropped it"

She smiled at him sympathetically and got up from the couch. Danny took the next seconds to admire how beauty she was, despite the disheveled hair. He knew they weren't a couple anymore, but in times like that it always made him feel worse. Rachel had always been such a beauty, both from the outside and from the inside, and it wasn't easy to give her up; in fact, he hadn't completely given her up, although it wasn't something he was going to verbalize in front of her or Stan. He knew they loved each other despite their constant crisis, and he wasn't going to step in the middle. Luckily, he still had Rachel as a friend, and it should be enough for him.

When Danny looked up, he saw Rachel standing next to him. He closed his eyes for a moment when he saw her leaning on him to kiss his forehead. He was still smiling when he opened his eyes again.

"What was that for?" He asked. "Not that I'm complaining but..."

She rolled her eyes while she turned on her back and headed to the door, but Danny could tell she was smiling.

"Where are you going?" He raised one of his arms in a vain attempt to reach her. He didn't want to be left alone, not yet; he still felt weak and confused, and her presence was the only comfort he had.

"I'm going to call someone to get this cleaned up. Besides, you're not allowed to get too excited yet" she tried to crack a joke, but she got more serious when she saw his confused face. "Don't worry, Danny. Everything is okay now. Just rest"

"Wait!" She was already at the door when the sound of his voice made her stop once again. Her face turned into a worried one when she saw how the raise of his voice had made him hurt his chest, as he was once again trying to rub it with one hand. "Grace?"

"She's okay. These days had been a nightmare for all of us, but she's as strong as her dad. She can't wait to see you" She smiled when he saw him relax against the mattress once again, although she could see too the concern and the guilt on his face. She knew how much he loved their daughter and how he didn't like to worry her despite the continuous risks of his job. "Rest, Danny. Maybe I can convince the doctor to let her visit you on Friday..."

Rachel left the room without another interruption and Danny sighed and closed his eyes. Rachel wouldn't lie to him about Grace, and even though he didn't remember what had happened to make him wake up on a hospital bed in such bad shape, he couldn't wait to see his daughter too. Even without knowing how many days were left until Friday.

By the time Rachel and the nurse arrived to the room to clean up the broken glass, Danny was already asleep.

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The third time Danny regained consciousness, he realized he had had a good night sleep when he opened his eyes and had to close them due to the brightness of the room. This time, however, there was no gentle hand wrapping his like the first time.

"Danny? Hold on, buddy" though his eyelids were closed, he could feel the brightness of the room had decreased and he felt he could safely open his eyes then. When he did that, he didn't meet Rachel's big brown eyes, but his partner's concerned and also relieved green ones. "Hey Danno" He smiled at him and took a seat next to his bed.

"I told you not to call me that" he grunted, although both Steve and him knew he secretly loved the nickname. He looked at Steve with tired but amused eyes. "You're not holding my hand, right?"

"I'm happy to see you too, partner" Steve rolled his eyes but he couldn't hide a smile. There were a few seconds of awkward silence, only interrupted by the beeping machines attached to Danny's body, before he broke it again. "You gave us quite a scare, D. Promise me you're not doing it again"

Before replying, Danny took a moment to examine thoroughly his friend's face. He saw relief and concern, but he also saw guilt. He didn't remember what happened, but he knew Steve must have witnessed everything and couldn't do anything to prevent whatever it was from happening, and therefore the guilt. He shifted on his bed and rubbed his chest with an annoyed expression on his face (though, fortunately for him, it didn't hurt as much as the previous day, so it was a great progress... or the drugs he was being given that day were better).

"Don't hate me, Steven, but I can't really promise you anything" he had learned from the previous days that laughing made the pain on his chest worse, so he resisted the urge and instead remained calmed. However, he got a bit worried when he saw Steve's serious expression; he didn't know what his friend had gone through and he was clearly misunderstanding his words. "I mean, it's not that I remember everything anyway" he shrugged his shoulders, but the movement made him wince and he felt soon Steve hovering over him as if he was just about to explode. "Don't worry, I'm fine. I just forgot I can't move" he said ironically.

Steve sighed and rubbed his face with his hands before answering Danny. The doctor had said to the Five-0 team after the surgery that amnesia was to be expected after the trauma. He just didn't want to go through everything again, to relieve that nightmare so soon, even though now he knew Rachel hadn't lied to him when he told him Danny was fine.

"Be careful, okay?" He warned him before continuing. He didn't want his friend to pull of all the stitches on his chest. "What exactly is the last thing you remember?" The doctor had warned them not to get Danny too excited so soon, so he proceeded carefully.

"I... I remember the murder. A guy found in his house's basement with... uh... a blow to the head?" He didn't know if he had dreamed the last part, if he had watched it on TV or if it was really what happened. But Steve nodded slowly and encouraged him to go on, so he knew that must have been real. "Okay. We were at the palace and... you and I went to see his family"

"Do you remember what happened after that?"

Danny took some time to access the deepest corners of his mind to retrieve the missing pieces of information. After a couple of minutes, he looked at Steve.

"I remember a woman crying. The widow. And I remember you decided to go to the bathroom when we were about to leave" he smiled with amusement, but stopped when he saw Steve's face. "Okay, so that last part wasn't true, was it?"

"No, it was true" Steve sighed once again, feeling guiltier than ever. There began the worst part. "Do you remember what happened next?"

Danny once again retreated to the darkest corners of his mind, trying to find any clues; this time, he even closed his eyes in an attempt to concentrate better on the task. However, this time, even though he forced his brain beyond exhaustion, he found nothing. He remembered himself with a gun between his hands, and he remembered someone saying his name, but nothing else.

"I… I'm not sure" he said, opening his eyes slowly and furrowing his brows due to the headache thinking so hard had caused him. "I remember having my gun between my hands, and someone saying my name…" he sighed and shifted his head on the pillow, welcoming the comfort the cold side offered him.

"It's okay" said Steve, who had witnessed the change on his partner's face and knew the effort had done no good to his friend. "I knew this was not a good time, we'll take about this later…"

"No, no, no" Danny stubbornly interrupted Steve. He was annoyed of getting asleep before getting some answers. He knew he couldn't force Rachel to tell him everything, but it was different with Steve. Despite being weak and starting to feel his head was about to explode, he still remember how to push his partner. "You are gonna tell me everything, and you are gonna do it right now before Rachel comes back" This time he could hide the pain when he coughed after , but that didn't mean McGarret looked at him less worriedly, but he continued before his friend could say anything. "By the way, why's Rachel here? I thought she was on the mainland"

"I called her and she came here as soon as she could. And yes, Grace is in Hawaii too. Don't worry, she's fine, but she can't wait to see you" he said with a smile before his partner could ask him anything, but he knew something was wrong when his friend didn't smile back. "What's wrong?"

"Rachel told me the same, so get to the point. Why am I here?"

He could have asked Steve why he was half naked, or why he felt as if someone had kicked him hard on the chest. He could have asked him too about all the cables attached to every single corner of his body, including the one on his nose or the uncomfortable one somewhere down his waist. He could have asked him why it hurt so much every time he laughed or coughed, or why he was short of breath after saying a long sentence, or why he wasn't supposed to get too excited so soon. But he knew the question he had just asked summarized pretty much everything without further detail, so he remained silent and waiting for an explanation he was eager to get. He felt himself tired, as tired as to knowing he needed (and wanted) to get some sleep, but not before he got some answers.

"Okay" Steve sighed once again before starting; there was no turning back now. "We were working on a murder case and we went to interrogate the victim's wife. Everything looked normal, although she had been looking nervous and distracted the whole time. And… I needed to go to the bathroom before leaving and I left you two alone in the living room. When I came back, the widow's son was in the house and you were pointing a gun at him and… he took advantage of the distraction I had provided and next time I saw him he had a gun pointed at you" Steve took some time to regain the composure. He closed his eyes and when he opened them again, he looked at his friend as if he had committed the worst mistake of his life. "I tried to stop him, but I couldn't, not before he pulled the trigger"

Danny remained silent, too busy organizing the chaos inside his mind to be able to say something coherent and understandable, something even more difficult to accomplish given the rising headache he was experiencing. That made perfect sense with everything he remembered, especially with the moment of someone, who now he knew was Steve, saying his name, probably as he had just been shot. He heard the monitors around him beeping faster, so he closed his eyes and forced himself to slow his breathing before opening them again.

"I'm good. Go on"

"I was scared when I saw you falling, all that blood coming out of your chest… " He shook his head; he didn't need to get distracted with that at that moment. "I shot the guy; just a graze on the neck, enough to knock him out so I could focus on stopping your bleeding before the ambulance came and brought you here. We were in the waiting room for hours, D, without knowing if you would make it out of surgery, and after everything, the surgeon came out and told us there had been these complications and…"

"Hey. Hey, Steve" interrupted Danny, completely scared when he saw his partner was about to cry. Steve was a tough guy, or so he wanted everyone to think, and Danny had never seen him cry. "Look at me. C'mon babe, look at me" He waited as Steve did so, and he raised a hand weakly when he saw him opening his mouth. "I'm in clear disadvantage here, so don't interrupt me, please" he made a pause to catch his breath. "I'm here now, okay? I can't imagine how tough these days must have been for you, but I guess I mustn't have looked really good if Rachel and Grace came back to Hawaii just because of me" he stopped once again to catch his breath after saying such a long sentence and rubbed his chest to ease some of the pain. "But I'm here now. That's all that matters".

He smiled at his partner. Steve didn't answer, but he smiled at him too and patted his shoulder before looking at his watch, getting up from the chair and heading to the door.

"I leave you to rest, buddy. Rachel must be returning soon, and I have to drop by the palace anyway" he raised his brows with confusion and surprise when he saw Danny's attempts not to laugh. "What's so funny?"

"Rachel. Despite Stan and everything that has happened between us, she still can't stay away from me"

Steve smiled sadly, remembering the time when his partner confessed to him he had been seeing Rachel for some time and they were back together, and remembering when he told him, not too long after that, that Rachel's baby was Stan's and that had changed everything, and that she was giving Stan a second chance for the baby's sake. But he also remembered how Danny couldn't ignore Rachel when she called him and told him he broke waters and Charlie was about to be born. Even though their second chance didn't work, it was clear they both cared for each other. After all, Danny didn't hear Rachel crying on the other end of the line, and he didn't have to hug and comfort her when she first arrived to the ICU and Danny wasn't allowed to receive any visitors because of his critical condition.

During the days Danny had been in the ICU, Steve had had time to talk with Rachel (as well as with every other of Danny's concerned visitors) and vice versa. It wasn't until the third day that she hadn't opened up to him, but when she did he had felt the exploding bomb and all its little pieces reaching him with full force. However, seeing his partner so weak made him realize he was not ready for the whole truth yet; even if he were, it was something about which only he and Rachel should have to talk eventually, in private and with no third-person invited to the conversation.

So Steve, instead of explaining the truth to his friend about why Rachel was spending the time between her house and the children and the hospital and Danny, smiled at his partner. He was about to leave when he heard his friend's voice behind him.

"Say hi to Chin and Kono for me, wouldya?"

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**Thanks to everyone who read the story, and specially to those who also followed, favorited and/or reviewed. You don't know how hard I laughed when I read your concerns and even fear about Danny's fate (I'm so cruel, LOL), so I hope you liked this chapter. However, don't lower your guard: it's not over yet.**


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